hasn't gotten off their butts to do, for the past few decades, namely develop a reliable rocket which can most likely be man-rated, along with an economical, multi-purpose capsule that for now can be used for cargo and most likely soon will be able to ferry crew to and from, again, LEO.

This is not a slam on NASA; there are lots of good reasons for them not to re-invent the wheel. Low Earth Orbit is increasingly becoming a place where we live and work and do business, so that's not where NASA should be focusing their energy. And the Ares-1/Orion Capsule arrangement wasn't due to come online and take people into orbit until 2017, or so.. and even under the best-case scenario, the design had serious potential problems that several engineers had pointed out. Elon Musk is basically ready to do it, right now.

To my mind (barring further budget cuts) NASA is at least spending the meager resources they're still given where they can best do some long-range good; most importantly developing a heavy lift rocket which can be used in the boundary-pushing manned exploration (asteroids, the moon, eventually Mars) that is, really, NASA's mandate. For putting people on top of that, they can use the substantial work already done on the Orion capsule.

But I actually think the current plan is a good one, given the political realities. Of course, I strongly believe NASA -and science and exploration in general- needs more funding. You will not find a stronger proponent of both unmanned and manned, publicly funded space exploration than myself. I just don't think that is mutually exclusive with private development of space and space-related resources.

Here's my proposal and request: Make a list of all of the "multiple accounts" you've got, including this one- all the names, and put them in the PROFILE of EACH of your "multiple accounts". That way, the process is transparent and everyone who interacts with "you" knows who "you" are, and no one has to be bothered with, for instance, telling "you" the same thing twice.

Even though it sometimes gets mistaken for other stuff, like the all-important springboard upon which stage history will write that the giant overthrow of The Dread Space Phallus Patriarchy™, here, once began.

Often the people who farm out a whole bunch of socks at the same time get tripped up when they get flustered, and forget which "one" they're supposed to be. I think some of em eventually wise up and try to keep it down to one or two at a given time, so this doesn't happen.

Flingy Dingy: You're a giant flimfarmhitteratz!

Concerned Citizen: Well, aint that just a kick in the head.

Flingy Dingy: And, you've got a zit on your nose.

Concerned Citizen: Okay, well, I heard that every weekend, you rock out in a snuggy listening to Hall and Oates.

Damaged Moongoddess: That is a LIE! I only did that once.

I also like this exchange. I know I posted this before, but it's worth putting up again:

and then post some essentially meaningless, feel-good thread full of pictures of MLK and quotes that no sane person would ever disagree with, so she could get 200 or so responses going "yeah! Nice thread!" and then somewhere hidden in there would be like, one line trying to tie it back to the shit she had used to piss everyone off. I think she did this with the moon bombing.

It would go something like This:

Ghandi advocated tolerance

King advocated tolerance.

The world needs love--- and tolerance.

so why cant we be more tolerant of people who express well meaning concern about the sinister plot to disrupt our menstrual cycles by savagely attacking our lunar space sister

First off, I do believe that Western Civilization, and particularly Western Monotheistic religion, has historically had a patriarchal orientation. I believe that men are certainly coming from a place of privilege, historically. I've said as much, in the Men's Group as well as elsewhere. One would, to my mind, have to be blind or deliberately obtuse not to acknowledge those facts.

HOWEVER, that is not the same thing as agreeing that there is an entity or condition known as "the Patriarchy", which, depending on the strain of Feminism, is imagined either as a universal planetary condition, the original source of ALL oppression, everywhere, and even, yes, a deliberate conspiracy along the lines of the Bildeburgers or the Illuminati. (It is, remember, this "Patriarchy" that is allegedly creating MtF trans "stealth units" to "surveil womynspace".. I'm not making this up.)

Different cultures are, to varying degrees, more or less open, more or less free, more or less equal in terms of allowing individuals the freedom to self-actualize in whatever way those individuals see fit. Ours is better than most (certainly better than most Fundamentalist religious countries of varying stripes) and of course there are varying degrees of free vs. stifling communities in this country as well. I will always err on the side of freedom, of choice, etc.

Is there a history of male privilege and a history of patriarchal organization in Western Civilization? Absolutely. Does that mean "The Patriarchy" is real? I don't think so.

***

Now, to your questions:

If another man called you a woman, how would you feel/react in your mind?

I don't really give a shit what other people think or say about me. That's an honest answer. I think most people don't like being insulted, the criteria for an insult often being whether the target or the insulter feels that what is being said is an insult. We've seen plenty of examples here in meta of women who consider it an insult to be called "a man", so I'm not sure if there's a fundamental societal point that can be made. With regards to me, meh. I know who I am, and I'm too old and have survived too much actual shit to spend much time worrying about what other people think. This feeds into, again, much of the culture hand-wringing I see around these topics. I don't pretend to somehow be completely above the fray, and I acknowledge that I've fortunately spent most of my adult life in tolerant, progressive areas, but I do believe that the fundamental struggle should be making sure everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, everyone is treated fairly, etc. When people say "the culture makes me feel like I need to be attractive" or "the culture makes me feel like I'm fat".. well, okay- I don't want to minimize your feelings, but you can always tell the culture to fuck off. The culture can't MAKE you feel anything, IMHO.

Do you sincerely desire women to be equal to men in every possible, plausible, applicable way?

Yes.

If you were to discover that you are actually in a position of male privilege that you previously did not understand and recognize, would you be willing to abdicate this privilege in favor of becoming completely equal in status to women, out of a personal sincere desire for equality?

That's an open ended question, especially since some people define male privilege as living in a society that insufficiently censors sexy ads or films of consenting adults fucking. I'd have to know the specifics, but beyond that I would refer you to my previous answer.